Agenda item

Councillor Steven Kelly, Cabinet Member for Individuals, introduced the report.

It was anticipated that from April 2013 most public health responsibilities would transfer from the Department of Health to local government. Local authorities would have a duty to promote the health of their population and also take on key functions to ensure that robust plans were in place to protect local populations and provide public health advice to NHS commissioners.

There would be a ring-fenced public health grant to support local authorities in undertaking these functions. Although the 2010/11 baseline spend estimate had been announced, the final grant figure would not be known until December 2012.

The report provided detail of the new responsibilities, including the employment of a specialist Director of Public Health, together with the opportunities and risks. It drew upon the work of PHAST (Public Health Action Support Team) which was commissioned to review the options.

The report sought approval for the work being undertaken and the initial plans to take on public health functions.

Reasons for the decision:

It was anticipated that the Health and Social Care Act 2012 would transfer public health responsibilities from the Department of Health (DH) to local government from April 2013. This legislation necessitated the work summarised in the report and required various decisions relating to implementation.

The ’lift and shift/drop’ proposal was considered the most prudent because there continued to be a number of uncertainties, especially with regard to future funding and as proposals for transfer had to be finalised by 1 December 2012, more time was required to consider longer term proposals once final budgets were known later in December 2012.

The reasons for recommending a dedicated Director of Public Health for Havering were covered in section 4 of the report.

Other options considered:

Changes to the existing structure would be difficult as the Public Health Grant announcement was still awaited and decisions had to be confirmed over which staff would transfer to Public Health England rather than to the local authority.

The consultancy from the Public Health Action Support Team (PHAST) had explored different models including the opportunity to work with the other Cluster boroughs in providing some services.

There would be a statutory requirement to have a Director of Public Health. The PHAST report considered the different options (see section 4 of the report); the supported option was recommended.

Cabinet AGREED:

1.    To note the content of the report including the work that had been undertaken on the transfer of the public health responsibilities and the opportunities and risks this presented, particularly the financial risks.

2.    In principle, that when the public health services functions transfer, the Council would take over the existing managerial structure, personnel and contracts pending further work on future options.

3.    To note that the Constitution would need to be amended to provide for the creation of a chief officer level post of the Director of Public Health, but to authorise the immediate commencement of a recruitment process for that prospective post.

4.    To establish a specialist Director of Public Health for Havering at chief officer level from 1 April 2013 and to commence the recruitment process immediately.

5.    To note that further work would be undertaken to explore shared functions and joint working with neighbouring boroughs.